Case study
Advice business: Prime Advisory
Location: Sydney, NSW
Client base: 1000+ clients
Age of practice: 20 years+
Selecting a client portal and transitioning clients across is not hard if you plan, communicate, reinforce and commit.
Prime Advisory’s transition to a client portal was prompted by demand from clients for a safer way to transfer documents, and its licensee’s desire to see less information shared over email.
However, the business understood that the wider benefits of client portals made them a compelling customer solution.
“Data security, all documents in the one place, better client experience, streamlined way of doing business – it’s a good story for clients,” said Angus Rodgers, Director Prime Advisory.
Choosing the right client portal
Initially, Prime Advisory tried to build their own client portal using Salesforce, but this proved difficult. Hearing feedback from other business leaders on what they used, Prime Advisory chose myprosperity.
“We wanted to go with something that had great infrastructure, was set up and ready to go,” said Harrison Cockburn, Head of Operations, Prime Advisory.
The fact that myprosperity is owned by HUB24 was another key factor to Prime Advisory.
“We prefer to partner with technology providers that have got a solid track record,” said Rodgers. “We like everything that HUB24 is doing.”
He added: “They are innovative, and we think that myprosperity has transitioned into the right hands and its acquisition compliments their existing offering.”
Transitioning clients with a project plan
Prime Advisory has two divisions – Prime Wealth and Prime Accounting – which together services more than 1000 clients and approximately $800 million funds under advice.
Based in Sydney and with a 20-year history, the advice and accounting practices service a broad range of clients, including retirees and pre-retirees which include doctors, lawyers and small businesses.
During a strategy day in July 2024, Prime Advisory made the decision to onboard myprosperity on a three-month transition from October to December 2024 – an approach they had used in other significant operational changes such as migrating to Salesforce and changing modelling software providers.
“We are a dynamic business, open to change and always looking for improvements,” said Rodgers.
In October 2024, Prime Advisory sent an email to all clients notifying them of the change and encouraging them to download the myprosperity app. A client portal page was established on its website to make it easy for clients to log on.
The business also started each annual client review meeting in December 2024 with a conversation about the client portal, reinforcing its benefits and encouraging adoption. This phased approach is recommended best practice by myprosperity, and it paid off, as by January 2025, all clients had downloaded the app, with nearly 400 active users engaging with the portal.
Looking ahead
Prime Advisory is optimistic about the range of benefits the online portal will bring to its clients and business.
While still in implementation phase, the transition is a bit of work, but Rodgers said the business can “see the light at the end of the tunnel”.
Ease of use of the client portal has been a big positive for the business as has using the client app. “It’s very user friendly for all clients,” said Rodgers. Although getting clients to create multi-factor authentication requires a bit more effort, it is regarded as essential for cyber security.